Following are some general notes on the rhythm video submissions so far for Kris Shaffer’s section (Section 3, MW 10am) only. If you would like specific comments, please make an appointment to see me outside of class or drop by during office hours. Keep in mind that this is, in part, an exercise in self-evaluation. Before you come to me, make sure you have listened carefully to your video and identified/fixed any errors you find before coming to me for assistance. I will help you get over those final hurdles, but I want you to do as much yourself as possible.

First, a number of you are still having difficulty placing fast notes on the back side of the beat. (I.e., the final sixteenth note in a dotted-eighth and sixteenth rhythm.)

Second, make sure all long notes are sustained full value. This will help your accuracy when performing 2 or 4 against 3, among other things. Also, make sure that single-beat notes are always full value. This is easy to miss when the eighth note is the notated beat.

Third, everyone missed the tempo/beat instructions in number 3. It may have been stated unclearly, but the quarter-note beat in 3/4 and the dotted-quarter beat in 6/8 should be the same duration. As a result, the eighths and sixteenths should all get faster when it changes to 6/8 and slower when it changes to 3/4.

Last, make sure both performers are equally close to the computer/phone. In some of the videos, it is hard to hear one voice because it is drowned out by the other.

Please revisit all of your videos this week or this weekend in advance of next week’s submission. Tap a steady beat, division, or subdivision along with your performance, and look especially for the above errors. If you do so, you will find most of the mistakes and imprecisions that are present. Do everything thing you can to submit videos that are as perfect as you can make them.